Monday, September 9, 2013

Riddick (2013)

The Riddick franchise has been a very strange franchise in
the sense that is goes up and down in tone, like the rising and falling of the
tide. The first film, entitled Pitch Black (2000), was a simple monster flick
about a group of people trying to get off a planet before these nasty
carnivorous critters eat their asses. In comparison the second film, Chronicles
of Riddick (2004), is epic in scale, with Riddick defying a group of dictators
who call themselves ‘Necromongers’; a
race of beings that go around conquering planets and destroying those who don’t
won’t join their crusade. I love both movies for different reasons; the first
one successfully fuses the horror and sci-fi genres. It’s dark, it’s got
awesome visuals and it’s entertaining; it kept things simple yet effective. The
second film I like because it’s a more lavish production that expands on the
universe that David Twohy created on the first film. Still, no matter how epic
in scale Chronicles of Riddick was, the problem with this second film was that
even though it was a more ambitious production, it didn’t make its money back
at the box office and so, this is the reason why we had not seen a new Riddick
film in such a long time. Studios won’t give you millions if your previous
flick failed. But both Twohy and Vin Diesel don’t want to let Riddick die, and
so they’ve decided to give the character another spin. Vin Diesel even went as far as putting up his own money to make this one happen, so that turns this one into a passion project for both Twohy and Vin Diesel. So finally, we get a
third adventure in the Riddick franchise. Was it any good? Is it a worthy
sequel?

This time around, same as in the first film, Riddick is
trying to survive on a planet filled with deadly wildlife, a planet in which you
can’t walk five steps without some fanged creature trying to kill you. But if
you know Riddick, then you know that’s just the way he likes it. It seems the
guy was meant to thrive in adversity. Like Mad Max or Conan, Riddick works best
alone and under strenuous circumstances. So it isn’t long before he learns to survive
on this deadly planet just fine. But it seems this planet won’t leave Riddick
alone, soon the weather starts to change and Riddick decides that this planet
is no longer fit for him to survive in, so he does something unexpected, he
calls a bunch of Bounty Hunters to come and “get him”. In reality, Riddick’s just
luring them in so he can take their space ship and get off this dangerous
planet he currently resides. But the bounty hunters seem to think they actually
got a chance of capturing the famous escaped convict. All they care about is capturing
Riddick, chopping off his head and getting double their pay. Question is: do
these guys have a chance in hell? Don’t they know their messing with one of the
baddest mothers in the universe?

So yeah, that synopsis you’ve just read is in a nutshell
what this movie is all about. It’s not a very complex film which is where it differentiates
itself from the previous one; Chronicles of Riddick is Shakespearian by comparison,
while this third film is like going back to basics. Its closer in tone and feel
to Pitch Black (2000), the first film, which means that yeah, we’re back in monster
flick territory again. Not a bad thing if you ask me, the problem is that
people are going to be expecting a film that would bring a conclusion to the
second film and Riddick is the furthest thing from that. You know how the
second film ends with Riddick sitting on a throne, essentially becoming some
sort of King to the Necromongers? The film ends like Conan the Destroyer (1984)
saying “but that’s another story” and so of course we’re all expecting a big
conclusion to that story line with this new film, we all want to see what
Riddick would be like as a ruler, will he change things? Would greed devour his
soul? Would he be a good king? Riddick the Conqueror, that’s what I wanted to
see! And well, this new movie kind of explains what happens when Riddick
becomes king, but in a few seconds, which isn’t fair. It brushes through his
whole king phase in five seconds, as if it didn’t matter all that much, as if
it was some footnote in Riddick’s history. I mean really, we only get a glimpse
of his days as a king; I wanted the full story!

But that’s not what you’ll get, so scratch that idea from
your noggin. What you will get is Riddick surviving on a bad ass planet
fighting off monsters and greedy bounty hunters. You’ll take that and you’ll
like it! I see what Twohy and Vin Diesel are doing. They’ve brought down
production costs so that this third film will turn in a profit; in this way
assuring that they can make a fourth film, basically, they are attempting to
save the franchise, which in my opinion is a franchise ripe with stories to
tell. So here’s how it went down: Chronicles of Riddick (2004) costs 105 million
dollars, unfortunately it was a box office bomb and didn’t make its money back.
This of course spelled tragedy for both Vin Diesel and Twohy, their beloved
franchise was apparently dead on its tracks! But wait, suddenly Vin Diesel’s
Fast and the Furious franchise is making kajillions! The actor has reached an
all time high; each of the Fast and the Furious films making more money than
the last! So now the studio can risk making a third Riddick movie, considering
how popular Vin Diesel is these days. But of course, the studio will only make
a calculated risk, so they make a smaller film, a more personal story on a much
smaller budget. This is the reason why Riddick cost “only” 38 million, because
they want to make their money back. A lot is riding on this film, they want it to
be successful so they can make another, so the franchise can live on. So my friends, this is the reason why this story is smaller in scale;
still, I have to admit I liked this more personal take on the character.

Unfortunately, the film will feel like filler to fans of the
Riddick films, like it’s not an important story in the life of Riddick, in all
honesty, it feels like just another day in the life of this character; surviving and
wiping out his enemy from the shadows. What I did like about it though is that
we get to spend some time with Riddick; we get to know him a bit better, the
loner, the survivalist, the bad ass mother. Those scenes with Riddick surviving
in the alien planet reminded me a whole lot of those first scenes in Conan the
Barbarian (1982), in which Conan is out in the world for the first time,
fighting off wild dogs and scavenging the world for food and women. Other
scenes reminded me of Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981), especially those
scenes in which Riddick gets himself a dog like companion, just like Max did in
The Road Warrior. So you’ll get a lot of scenes of Riddick against the planet,
all on his own. It’s the second half of the film that turns into a wild goose
chase, with the Bounty Hunters running after Riddick. And if that doesn’t keep
your butt on the seat, then you’ll certainly have fun with the deadly creatures
that inhabit this dangerous planet, which were pretty cool creations. Monster
fans should be happy with this one. And if that isn't enough, fan boys should love the fact that the beautiful Katee Sackhoff is on this one! There's something about that lady! Wowzers!

So, taking in consideration that this is a smaller film, and
not the one we were expecting, I still think this is a solid slice of sci-fi. Visually speaking,
the film doesn’t look less expensive, which is an asset. I mean, usually a
smaller budget means cramped sets and a cheaper looking film, but this is not
the case with Riddick, the film still looks majestic and awesome, so my hats
down to David Twohy for achieving a good looking picture with considerably less
amounts of money. As I type this, Riddick stands number one at the box office,
this is its first week out in the world, let’s hope that like its main
character, the film manages to survive in the big bad Box Office. If it makes it's moolah back we can expect a bigger adventure come next
film. So in many ways, it's up to the fans of this franchise to save this one. You hear me fanboys of the world? The future of the Riddick franchise lies in your capable hands! So go see this one! Now!

6 comments:

Wasn't dissapointed, but I also wasn't blown away. Still, a solid Riddick flick, can't bring myself to say it's "bad" because it's a good production, smaller in scope, but still a quality production in my book. Hope you enjoy it Aylmer!

Nice review Francisco. Terribly dumb, however, I would say that there is some fun to be had with this material, especially if you know what you're getting into. Or, in my case, just watch the first two movies right before you see it. Then, you'll know what to expect.

Yeah, I was expecting something with a little more meat to it, but then I heard Vin Diesel saying this was a "smaller film" and that we'd maybe get to see the Underverse in the next film...which is why some might be dissapointed with it.

The next natural step (had they had the budget) would have been the Underverse and Riddick as King...but alas, we get this smaller adventure, which was fun and cool and all that, but lacked what we truly wanted to see.

Still, not a bad film at all, it just plays with peoples expectations.